Shield Archaic

4,500 B.C.- 1,500 B.C.

Setting

The Shield Archaic tradition of the northern boreal forest and subarctic
region is considered to have developed as early as 6,500 years ago. It was
distributed throughout the southern Northwest Territories (Keewatin district),
northern Saskachewan, northern and eastern Manitoba, and northwestern Ontario.
Sites on the tundra are well represented in the Northwest Territories,
which has been suggested as a possible origin (Wright 1972, 1976). Sites
in the Manitoba subarctic are rare and have been found mainly in the southeast.

The boreal forest offered many resources, but the dense understory and
myriad swamps would have made overland travel almost impossible. However, the
vast network of interconnecting waterways offered many possibilities for
water transportation. Canoes may have been used for summer transport and
snowshoes may have allowed for movement over the frozen lakes and rivers
in the winter.

Subsistence Base and Technology

The Native peoples who developed the Shield Archaic, possibly the ancestors
of the contemporary Algonkian speakers who now inhabit the area, depended
primarily upon caribou, moose, and fish which thrived along the extensive
system of waterways. They followed a "broad spectrum" procurement
strategy, but required fairly large hunting grounds because of the fluctuations
in animal populations and dislocations due to massive forest fires (Wright
1995:261).

Adze from the Victorica Burial Day Site

Artifact assemblages are dominated by knives, scrapers, and small side-notched
points. Adzes have also been recovered in many sites and indicate the importance
of forest resources and the manufacture of wooden tools. Unfortunately
poor preservation of organic materials within the boreal forest makes it
unlikely that we will ever recover any direct evidence of implements made
of perishable materials. Pollen remains and the occasional intact bone
tool suggest that a wide range of resources were used. Bone and antler
tools are particularly well documented at the Victoria Day site on
Three Point Lake in northern Manitoba (see
below).

Social Organization and Settlement Pattern

In the northern areas, sites located at water crossings suggest that
people congregated at locations where caribou herds could be intercepted.
These sites may represent the seasonal, scattered campsites associated
with late summer caribou hunting and spring/fall fishery. No winter campsites
have been located, and their absence may reflect a preference for camping
on lake ice. People may also have wintered in any of the sheltered bays,
or dells which are part of the undulating landscape.

To the south, Shield Archaic bands "...were oriented largely to
the ecotone occurring along the boundary between land and water...
(Rogers and Black 1976:5)". Campsites located in this narrow band were
considered
to represent summer and fall occupations. Winter settlement patterns are
difficult to document because of the dispersal of population associated
with limited resource availability.

Religion

The Shield Archaic provides important evidence
of religious beliefs and aesthetic traditions among Manitoba First Nations
in the precontact period. A major burial site has excavated
at Three Point Lake, the Victoria Day site,
circa 2,300 B.C., containing the largest burial cache of bone and antler
tools (right) in the northern boreal forest. A round stone medicine ball
and a Brewerton corner-notched point were also recovered.

Aside from the burial other evidence of religious, aesthetic, and intellectual
life may also be documented in rock paintings, termed pictographs, and
patterned stone arrangements, petroforms, that may have their origins in
Archaic cultures. Unfortunately, Manitoba rock art can not be firmly dated
and will be treated in the context of the next chronological unit, the
Woodland Period.